The eastern horizon – A regional perspective

By Grzegorz Gorzelak

Countries and regions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have gone through several challenges. They went through totalitarian and authoritarian communist regimes, gained independence at the end of the 19th century, faced new economic and political challenges and rejoined Europe in a perspective of mutual development.
As different as they may be, despite recent populist movements, the CEE countries have much in common and regional policies can help the "forgotten places" to explore their opportunities, supporting democracy, cohesion, and local economies in the European Union.
Grzegorz Gorzelak is a professor of economics, specialising in regional and local development policies and strategy building. He has collaborated with the World Bank, the OECD, DG Regio of the European Commission, several agencies of the Polish and Ukrainian governments, as well as regional and local authorities.
This is the fourteenth essay in the Big Ideas series created by the European Investment Bank.

• Language: English
• Publisher: European Investment Bank
• Release date: Oct 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9789286147241

Book preview

THE EASTERN HORIZON

The trajectories of the countries and regions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) during the last hundred years do prove that almost everything is possible. In this relatively short period these countries have regained independence, have suffered during World War Two, have gone through totalitarian and authoritarian communist regimes and lastly they have rejoined Europe, moving from the second to the first periphery of the developed world. Although at the start of their EU membership the end of history may have appeared as a plausible way to look to the future of CEE, recently unexpected phenomena have questioned these hopes and placed several new challenges before the new Member States.

"After the initial period of institutional convergence, a few years ago a stream of right-wing populism movements emerged and spread in most of the CEE countries, and the European values of deliberative democracy and the rule of law have come to be replaced by growing centralisation.

Two of these challenges seem the most important: the political and the economic. After the initial period of institutional convergence, a few years ago a stream of right-wing populism movements emerged and spread in most of the CEE countries, and the European values of deliberative democracy and the rule of law have come to be replaced by growing centralisation, breaking constitutional orders and even introducing some manifestations of authoritarian rule. The migration crisis of 2015-2016 aggravated these processes, since all CEE countries disagreed with the EU’s stance on this issue. Thus, at this moment, the rationale of Eastern enlargement, although not yet questioned openly, has become a less obvious geopolitical decision than it appeared a decade ago.

MARCH 2020, THE 55TH KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, ONE OF THE OLDEST FILM FESTIVALS IN THE WORLD, WAS CANCELLED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

The most recent coronavirus pandemic has posed additional economic challenges. It has to be remembered that the economic success of CEE was, to a great extent, the result of the incorporation of these countries into global value chains and the relocation of many industries from the West to the East of Europe. Foreign direct investment (FDI) was the main channel for innovation and technology transfers to the CEE countries. Global recession caused by the pandemic has seriously jeopardised the supply